The Glee Project: Keep Holding On
by kkxoxo22.gleeproject
Summary: Mr. Shue is looking for new talent. And for the new kid, Cameron Mitchell, freshman year couldn't be harder. To make matters worse, he's carrying around a big secret that he can't tell anyone.
1. Chapter 1

Cameron Mitchell was walking to school with his best friend, Damian McGinty. He had recently transferred schools from Texas and was now starting high school at McKinley with his long, lost Irish Brother, Damian.

"How do you feel about your first day at McKinley?" Damian asked Cameron.

"Pretty good." Cameron grinned. They opened the doors to the school.

"Are you going to try out for any clubs?" Damian asked, as people busily pushed by them.

"Oh yeah," Cameron said, as they approached their lockers. "I was thinking about the Glee Club. I love singing and playing music. Are y-"

He was interrupted by a Latina Girl in a cheerleading uniform tapping him on the back.

"Hi," she said, batting her eyelashes. "I'm Emily but you can call me whatever you like."

"Umm…hi," Cameron said, confused. Was this girl – Emily – trying to flirt with him? "I'm Cameron and I think I'll stick with Emily."

"Your cute…in a nerdy sort of way. Where are you from?"

"Ummm…Fox Worth, Texas. I just transferred here – I'm Brittany Pierce's cousin."

"Brittany's a sweet girl. I'm the cousin of Santana Lopez, her best friend. So…you got a girlfriend back in Texas?"

"No, not at the moment." Why was she talking to him? Everything about him said 'nerd' and he never thought that someone like her would ever want to be with him.

"Well, would you like one? I'd be a _very_ good girlfriend," Emily asked, flirtatiously.

"What? Sorry Emily, but I just got to this school. I'm still adjusting to the routine around here. I don't mean to hurt your feelings but I'm not looking for a girlfriend right now. And no offense, but you're not really my type."

Emily's flirtatious smile quickly turned to a glare as she shot a killer look at Cameron. "You're going to regret this. I should be able to get any guy I want."

"I am sorry, Emily. You do seem like a nice girl," Cameron replied, defensively. "I guess you just can't get _every_ guy. I'm sorry but I'm not interested."

She scoffed. "You have no idea what you just got yourself into. What you just did. Watch your back, nerd, because you don't know what I'm capable of."

The Latina – Emily Vásquez – flipped her hair and stalked off. The jock glared at Cam, then rammed him violently into the locker, causing him to drop his textbooks on the ground, then stalked off behind Emily. Cam groaned, rubbing his head.

"God, Cam, are you okay?" Damian asked, frantically.

"Ya," Cameron said, bending over to pick up his textbooks. The warning bell sounded throughout the hallways. "I have Biology first period today. I'll see you at lunch."

"Okay. I'll introduce you to Marissa at lunch. She's one of my other best friends here."

"Sure thing," Cameron said, walking off towards the Biology classroom. It was then that he realized that life at McKinley would be a lot more difficult that he anticipated.

#####

After the first morning of classes, Cameron realized how crazy the school was. As the new kid, he was pushed around all morning. He was never the most coordinated person and people kept bumping into him, causing him to crash into the walls or drop his textbooks.

Lunch in hand, he made his way over to the cafeteria, looking for Damian. He finally spotted him, talking to a girl with hazel eyes and long, curly ginger hair.

"Cam!" Damian exclaimed when he saw his friend. Cam made his way over to their table and spread out his lunch. "Cam, this is Marissa Von Bleicken. Mars, this is Cameron Mitchell," Damian said introducing the two.

"Oh! He's your 'Long Lost Irish Brother'!" Marissa said, giggling at Cameron's expression.

"I guess I am," Cameron said. "Nice to meet you."

"Same to you. So, Cam, how are you enjoying your first day of school?"

"Ehh…okay I guess. I met Emily Vásquez who I don't think I made the best impression on," Cameron said, picking at his food.

"Oh, she's the worst. She used to be my best friend until she befriended me and told everyone in the school that I was a-"

"What's wrong Marissa?" Cameron said, as the girl turned red, staring at her food. He also noticed that Damian had become silent and zoned out. What had happened to her?

"Conversation for another time," Marissa whispered, taking a deep breath. "Let's talk about something else. Damian said you might be interested in joining Glee Club?"

Cameron gave Damian a look. "Maybe…I mean I love to sing and I write some original songs."

"You should totally join, Cam!" exclaimed Marissa. "We could use some new members."

"Marissa is in the Glee Club. My audition for it is today, you should join," Damian grinned.

"I guess I could. I just finished writing an original song so I can sing that. It's called 'Love Can Wait'."

"Sounds great Cam," Damian said. "I'll see you at auditions."

#####

Cam played the final chord of his song. He felt he performed the song really well. What really surprised him was Damian's audition – Damian had sung Beyond the Sea and his voice was so unique and amazing. The auditorium filled with Glee veterans erupted into cheers. Cam grinned, and for the first time in the day, he felt accepted into a real group of friends.

"That was amazing, Cameron," Mr. Schuester said, standing and clapping. "You're an amazing songwriter – welcome to the Glee Club. We will definitely consider performing 'Love Can Wait', maybe a duet between you and Damian. Thank-you once again, we look forward to seeing you next Glee Club rehearsal. We are now working on Vulnerability week – I want you to share your vulnerability with a close group of friends. This will help you put more emotion into the group performance at the end of the week. Thank-you again for your auditions – well done!"

The glee club veterans all clapped for Cameron and Damian, who had now joined him onstage. Most of the veterans were giving them encouraging smiles. Marissa gave them a standing ovation but beside her, he did notice a few glares against him. Shaking them off, he gave Damian a smile.

Maybe life at McKinley in the Glee Club wouldn't be so bad.


	2. Chapter 2

Cameron approached the school, around the back entrance, his knapsack in hand. He couldn't wait to see Marissa and Damian. He was heading towards the back door when it suddenly opened and a group of jocks poured out, holding what looked like slushies.

"Hey, look who it is," said one of the jocks in front, mockingly. He was very burly with muscular arms, and Cameron noticed that the jocks behind him were cornering him against the dumpster.

"He's the guy who turned down the Latina Cheerio, Emily Vásquez?" an African-American jock asked, raising his eyebrows at Cam.

"Yes he was," Karofsky said. "I saw him with the Leprechaun and that ginger-haired girl. Marissa? You wish she would be your girlfriend but she's out of your league, nerd."

"What?" Cameron asked, surprised. He felt his face turn red. Marissa was beautiful but he would never think that she would be his girlfriend. It was only his second day at McKinley. He wasn't looking for a girlfriend. "I-I'm not looking for a g-girlfriend right now," he said, backing up, feeling his head hitting the dumpster. The jocks had closed in on him.

"Yeah right. I hear you're also a new member of Glee Club so this would happen to you soon enough," Karofsky said as the jocks raised the slushies to eye level. Suddenly, the waves of freezing blue ice hit every part of him. Cameron shouted aloud, whipping his glasses off and shutting his eyes which were now burning. It was the coldest thing he had ever felt in his eyes.

He blinked, trying to open his eyes when he was suddenly thrown in the dumpster. The bespectacled boy felt his eyes start to water as the jock's laughter faded. They had gone into the school and left him out here. And school was about to start. Crap. The second day and he would be late to class.

Rummaging around the different trash bags, he found his glasses and wiped them up. Groaning, he pushed himself up and fell out the dumpster. He checked his watch – he was already fifteen minutes late to class.

Wiping his glasses, he took off running into the school. He forgot that he was covered in blue slush and took off down the now empty hall and into his first period Spanish class. The teacher there, stopped talking to turn and stared. Shoot. It was Mr. Schuester, the glee club teacher.

 _'Great first impression_ , _Cam,' he thought to himself._

He was suddenly aware that the students were gawking at the site of him. He immediately felt the effects of the slushie and took off, running to the nearest washroom.

He didn't stop running until he reached the boys bathroom, farthest from the class. A sob escaped from his mouth, feeling humiliated. He slid down the door and buried his face in his hands. After five minutes, he heard a knock on the door.

"Cameron?" a voice called. It was a girl's voice – he could hear a touch of sympathy in her voice. "I'm going to come in." The door slowly opened and a ginger walked in. "Mr. Schue send me here. I'm Hannah MacIawain."

"Cameron Mitchell," he muttered, staring at the floor. He felt his face heat up in embarrassment.

"Are you okay," she asked, stumbling over to him.

Cam looked down at his slushie-stained clothes. "No, not really."

"What happened?" Hannah asked, as she grabbed some paper towels and ran them under the water. She began to clean the corn syrup off the blonde boy's face.

"The jocks happened," Cameron spat, bitterly. "It's my second day here and I'm already a target. I don't even know why! I mean, I was picked on back at my old school in Texas but the bullies back home never did anything like this."

"That was a slushie facial. Glee club kids get them almost daily. So, I suggest bringing an extra change of clothes," she answered, wiping at his face. "Do you want to wash the slushie out of your hair in the sink?"

Cameron nodded, bending over. "How did you know I'm in Glee?" he asked, vigoursly washing the syrup out.

"I was walking past the auditorium when I heard your audition. You have a really nice voice," she said.

"Thanks," Cameron answered, giving a small smile. He dried his hair and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm ready to go back to class."

"Just keep your head up," Hannah said to him, encouragingly.

#####

It was lunch and Cameron was making his way over to the table with Hannah. She was such a sweet girl. Sitting down, Damian gave him a smile. "How's your day been?" he asked Cameron.

"Ya, are you alright?" Marissa asked. Damian looked at Cam confused.

"What does she mean, Cam?"

"I'm in his Spanish class," Marissa replied to Damian. "He came in late, covered in slushies. He ran out to the bathroom so Mr. Schue sent Hannah to find him."

"What?" Damian asked in shock.

"Yeah, a group of jocks confronted me before school started," Cam responded, his face flushing red. "They were upset I turned down Emily and knew I was in Glee. So they slushied me then threw me in the dumpster."

"Wow," Damian muttered. "Talk about a bad second day."

"Luckily, Hannah came to help out," Cam said, smiling at the ginger who had placed herself between Damian and Cameron.

"Hans the best," Damian said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "She would join Glee but is already so busy with everything else. But, all of us go to her when we need help."

"No problem," Hannah responded, cheerfully. "I'm always happy to help out."

"Sorry you had to go through that alone, Cam," Damian frowned. "I should have been there to help."

"Damo, it's fine," Cameron reassured his friend. It had been pretty horrible thinking back – the humiliation and embarrassment of the situation. He decided to change the subject.

"So, what do you guys think of vulnerability week in Glee?"

The table went silent. A few minutes later, Damian spoke up. "I think my vulnerability is that I'm too _numb_. I dated a girl, Jenna, for a while in Ireland. Then my dad got a promotion and we packed up and moved. She broke up with me, saying she couldn't handle the long distance relationship. Now I'm worried that I won't be able to love someone for the amount of time needed." Tears had formed in Damo's eyes – he looked heartbroken.

"God, Damo, I'm so sorry," Cameron said, looking into his eyes.

"Yeah, but you have us," Marissa said, as Hannah gave him a hug.

"Thanks guys," Damian said, sniffling. "Who's next to share? I already did…"

Marissa suddenly put down her fork. "I'm…anorexic." She nervously looked to Damian and Cameron. They stared at her in shock. Marissa felt her face go red. Part of her was proud of herself for mustering up the courage to be honest for once, but saying the words out loud was just as bad as she thought it was going to be.

Silence filled the room. Then:

"I'm misunderstood." Marissa looked up at the blonde boy.

"In Texas, people don't dress like this," Cam said, gesturing to his outfit. "It's not okay to step out or to be different. They just thought I was so weird. I never really wanted to be part of the popular scene, so I was an outcast."

"Well you're lucky you found us," Marissa smiled.

"Yeah, and I for one love your style," Hannah said to Cameron. Cameron nodded, and from the look in his eyes, Damian could see there was a bigger problem. He decided not to bring it up yet and just smiled to Cameron.

"So that was an intense lunch," Hannah said, as the warning bell sounded.

"We'd better get ready for class," Marissa said, as everybody started to pack up. Leaving the room, a Cheerio sitting behind them with black hair and blue eyes maliciously smiled. Lindsay Pearce, the school's biggest gossip had overheard they're entire conversation. And she happened to know that her teammate, Emily Vásquez, would appreciate that information.

######

 **Authors Note:**

 _ **Ooooh Lindsay Pearce! Sorry for taking so long to update - school's crazy. So I thought it would be a fun twist to make Lindsay and Emily kind of friends. They didn't really like each other during the Glee Project but I took a different take when writing this chapter!**_ **_Hope you like it and feel free to leave any suggestions - I have some ideas and have mapped out the story but make edits along the way. Don't forget to R &R :) _**

**_-Kyla_**


End file.
